The four North Platte adults charged in a child abuse case involving kids in cages appeared in court on Thursday.

Ashley Clark, Lacy Beyer and Bryson and Samantha Eyten have each been charged with two felony child abuse charges as well as two counts of false imprisonment, all Class 3 felonies and misdemeanor child abuse.

The four opted for contested preliminary hearings, which have been scheduled for November 10. The contested preliminary hearings will require the state to prove that they have enough probable cause for the charges, if the state can’t prove that, the cases will be bonded over to Lincoln County District Court, because they are felony charges.

If convicted, each could face up to 10 years in prison. All four requested and received court appointed attorney’s. Bond has been set at $50,000 each.

Monday evening, North Platte Police were summoned to a trailer home at the east end of North Platte for a welfare check. Officers found two boys ages 3 and 5 in a wired shut dog kennel, as well as two other children, ages 8 and 8 months living in highly unsanitary conditions.

The kennel was 42 by 28 by 30 inches. Officers found the home covered with trash, dirty clothing, food and animal feces and urine throughout the residence.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is holding meetings along the Missouri River to discuss this summer’s flood problems and its plans for next year.

Leo Ettleman is spokesman for a coalition called “Responsible River Management.” Ettleman describes the meetings as “frustrating” and says while Corps officials are listening, they aren’t planning any changes.

He says the Corps looks at 2011 as a “500-year event” and they have no reason to change their management plans over one such event, so he says they will manage the river in 2012 just like they have in the past.

Ettleman says any changes to the Corps’ Missouri River operating plan will have to come from Congress.

He says that means there is no funding in the plan for flood recovery to build the levees back to the 100-year protection that they were.

Ettleman lost two-thirds of his 2,300 row crop acres near the western Iowa town of Percival to this summer’s flooding. He says it left a tremendous amount of debris.

“We have sand deposits probably, anywhere from two foot to four foot deep, just waves of sand.. scour holes, we have scour holes anywhere from two foot to five foot deep, it’s tremendous,” Ettleman says.

Ettleman is concerned about a repeat of the flooding problems in 2012.

He says they are going into spring with a 25-year protection levee, if it gets finished,by spring, and “we’re going to be extremely vulnerable in 2012 and perhaps even beyond, it depends on when the funding comes in.”

Ettleman says because the number of people directly affected by the flooding is relatively small, it has been a challenge to make their voices heard.